Inhalation of smoke as a form of recreation or by force of addiction can, in a minority but significant percentage of people, trigger the onset of a variety of OCDs. An OCD is an Obstructive Congestive Disease. The most common form of it is emphysema but there are others. These diseases develop slowly in the beginning but, essentially, what they do is suffocate the lungs. At the end stage of these diseases, the victim literally is fighting for every breath of air until he expires.

It is a psychological nightmare and, of course, physically devastating.

Edited by - Indy11 on 3/31/2004 6:38:43 AM

@archie

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why do people who smoke weed still think theyre terribly rebellious and naughty, like theyve been importing colombian cocaine or seeling automatic rifles to muslim fundamentalists?

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woah! slight generalisation there matee?!! It won't come as a shock for most to learn that I've smoked dope almost every day for 12 years. Its NOT something I'm proud of, and therefore I rarely advertise it....but it IS something that I enjoy....therefore I'm not ashamed either. You shouldn't have a go at Taw, because the last time this subject was brought up the thread was instantly shut down for being too "adult". Personally I think that this is a subject we should be able to talk about, as it isn't political, its certainly not religious, and its not even considered majorly illegal in the UK anymore. If you want to open the great cannabis debate, feel free, I'll happily contribute.

@indy - thanks for that. I'm fully aware of the health risks and I currently choose to continue with my addiction anyway. Its a form of cognitive dissonance. What I never understood about these health warnings though is that if you're an alcoholic, you get every kind of help and support possible - AA type groups etc. You don't get shown photographs of people dieing of liver diseases and there aren't adverts on television showing neglected children and wives getting beaten....so why the hell should smokers have to put up with this crap? Its like we should be ashamed to smoke, but its ok to drink yourself blind and take heroin and crack cocaine on a regular basis.

The only people who I will listen to tell me about the manner in which I could die from smoking, are those who have never touched alcohol, never drink coffee and generally live a healthy lifestyle....and those people are usually under 8.

you may have guessed that this is a subject I feel strongly about.

fookin' A, grom

Well said Grom.

My note was not intended to make you stop or shame you. Most people have important cognitive dissonances. Mine was with alcohol. Although I did not seek treatment nor do I think I needed it, I saw myself developing into an alcoholic (volume and daily frequency) and took my own steps to walk away from that direction. This is not bragging. When I took stock, I scared the s&*% out of myself at what I came to realize: I was daily drinking about 6 or 7 hard drinks a night on an average night. Much more on "party" nights.

I still drink but without the same gusto, and probably at only 1% of the volume and frequency, if that much.

Your point about alcohol is a long standing argument. I have no issue with you about it. The problem has remained at least here in the USA that one is legal and the other is not. And because of the illegality, the social consequences are different. I am not saying that this is fair or right. But it is the reality. NORML is on the move in the US but they do not seem to get much traction. However there are groups like Marijuana Anonymous to help people quit. MA even has an on-line access service.

Don't read Grom wrong, Cannabis is very much illegal.

The relaxation means that:

If found to have small quantities on your person, you will probabily just be cautioned and have it taken off of you. Caught smoking it in public, you will probabily be charged with something, and receive a fine.
Caught peddaling the drug (dealing), and you will most likely visit jail for a while.

The relaxation meant that people with a small lump in their pockets won't really get charged with too much, as its not worth it. However, don't think this is solid law, they can still arrest you over possession if they wished, and charge you with offences as well. They just have the options of being more lienient on you if they wish (note the "they" part there!). I was told that after the "relaxation" - alot of poeple got caught and charged with offences as they were smoking joints in teh street and so on. Basically, they were very very mistaken.

Just thought it should be pointed out that it is still illegal.

Listen up, I don't smoke Dope, But as I have a little Knowledge of Alchemy I made a Blend of Tobacco called (how genious) "StressKiller". It's Basicly Tobacco for Roll-ups (we call it "shag"), but with concentrated Nicotine.
It was concentrated 500% Though I could have driven it up to 750%, but didn't.
Because that would be near the Lethal Dose.

The Effect is like what Stu said, strong enough to put an elephant into Dozy-land. and I will guarantee (out of first hand experience) Your Stress will be Gone.

Edited by - Locutus on 3/31/2004 12:35:57 PM

'tis true, I'm on my 5th caution now. Still the filth have pretty much given up round here these days, they only do you if you're p*ssing them off some other way.

I was wondering; why did you guys start smoking (or drinking)? I am curious because smoking (both nacotics and tobbacco) as well as drinking have never held any attraction for me, and I am curious to know exactly why people begin these often self-destructive practices.

fags and beer taste nice.

I used to smoke cigarettes and drink to be uhhhh cool and to calm my nerves. If it weren't for the smoking I still might be a nail biter today. Was able to quit biting my nails but became a 3 pack-a-day borderline chain smoker. There was a time when I was unable to socialize without a lit cigarette in hand.

The drinking sort of crept up on me. I don't deal with gas very well so beers eventually became a problem for me when I tried to socialize so I took drinking the hard stuff instead. I discovered that I liked it better as I got a hit faster and it turned out that I was able to handle liquor better than my friends so it kind of puffed up my ego.

Then it became a point of maintaining my self image that I be a hard drinking s.o.b. Which wasn't very hard, the s.o.b. part at least , and finally I blacked out. My friends liked to go out drinking too and we had a great time at it.... as long as we all got s*^$-faced together. Any among us who stayed sober generally had a bad night out with the rest of us. So we were kind of a mutual bad drinking promotion group.

Taw - Really? Beer tastes pretty damn awful to me. So does wine, come to think of it. I wouldn;t know about the cigarettes.

Indy - So was it more of a peer-group pressure/image issue, or was it a personal choice?

I can understand pipe-smokers (tobacco pipes that is ), because there is a certain amount of pretention involved. Cigarettes, I just don't get.

It's too easy to chalk it up to peer group pressure. The point is that the subjective experience makes what may be peer pressure be experienced as a personal choice or compulsion. On the other hand, there was a time when I liked being that way, twisted as it may have been.

So I'd say that the peer pressure was in the environment but the choices were mine. I chose to smoke and drink just as I chose to "do well" in the relative measurement by my group. I didn't HAVE to be that way just like I didn't HAVE to hang with those guys but I WANTED to. That was my er, "informed" decision so-to-speak.

As far as cigs go, it is by far the easiest to handle. Pipes require too much maintenance and the spittle can be disgusting. Cigars, well, to most they stink to high heaven and, again, maintenance/storage is a PITA.

Edited by - Indy11 on 3/31/2004 5:32:29 PM

Fascinating. I guess that it shows a fair level of maturity to state that the choice was yours, and not just blame the peer-group *doffs hat* .

the choice is ALWAYS yours.

I started smoking quite "late" in the grand scheme of things - I was 17. I was on a surfing holiday in cornwall and accepted a joint from someone at a beach party. I coughed my guts up, but then for some reason, chose to carry on smoking for the rest of the night. By the end of the year I was smoking 20 marlboro red a day and copious amounts of dope - and becoming a uni student very soon after really didn't help my cause.

I have absolutely no idea why I decided to smoke....I just did. There was no peer pressure, I started in the most chilled of places and my friends at the time didn't start with me....in fact, when I started smoking I only knew one other person who did too.

The wierdest thing about it is that prior to that night I was a complete anti-smoker...of the worst kind too...the kind that preaches to smokers about how they will die a horrible death.

And what is it about beer and cigarettes? Well for a start, beer tastes great, you either like it or you don't. Together though, they're a great combination. I drink neat vodka a lot and I find that a cigarette can take away the sometimes "harsh" gagging effect the stuff has when its going down your throat.

As for the cannabis legality thing - you're absolutely right - its still 100% illegal. But due to the estimated millions of cannabis users in the uk, they had to slacken off the laws a little or else our prisons would be over-run with hippys instead of murderers. I've had two cautions for cannabis use outside of my home, both of which involved the police officer saying something similar to "for ****s sake man, why are you being so stupid? Everyone uses the stuff, even my serg. has admitted it in the past, just don't do it where conservative middle-aged fuddy-duddys will see or else you're gonna end up with a criminal record". Best thing about the second one is that he gave me a cup of tea and a few biscuits as he interviewed me, because he thought I might get the munchies!! hehehe. They're only concerned about the big time dealers - even the small-time "dealers who just sort their friends out" often slip through the net with a 50 quid fine. Fact of the matter is that the police would much rather see people hugging each other after a night out than glassing each other because they lost a "drink 10 pints in 30 minutes" competition.

But yes you're right...its illegal